# Nothing in March



## Cascaded (Mar 23, 2019)

I recently reached out to Butterfly for some insight on his programming knowledge and was pleasantly surprised by the welcoming attitude in his reply.

It was settled, I've got to find out about him and his people so I made an account here. Seeing that there hasn't been a new thread response since February, I thought what the heck, maybe this will be a decent way to stir up a few conversations.

One of the things I mentioned in my email was how, although a new game had been announced, I'm feeling pretty meh about it. 

Perhaps I was expecting something a little more real time with the switch. I thought maybe the turn based nature as we know it was an imposition of the hardware limitations

Well, since all of us settling on the old faithful, I believe that there's tons of ways to liven up what's tried and true. And my goodness, how we've been given so much freedom to experiment.

https://github.com/Zarel/Pokemon-Showdown
https://github.com/pret
https://hackromtools.altervista.org/hack-tools-gba/

Here are a few things I'm curious about. If it were possible (and I think it is) how would these tweaks affect the meta 

*Dual/Replacement Status 
*Accuracy & Evasion changes as the battle progresses
*More chances for critical hits based on strategy

Some insight on perspective: these propositions are born from the primary games and their limitations both technically and creatively. I come from a background of playing generation II, III, then I and jumping straight to Omega/Alpha, so here's to hoping I didn't miss much.

-Status Effects

Once upon a time I played fire red on an emulator. I recall having a conversation with my brother about being frozen and burned. I brought it up in a casual manner and he had to stop me "yeah one or the other". I was like "really? I guess that's how it works" I could have sworn that you can have two ailments. By that point I'm pretty sure that there were no Ice moves that could burn.

I imagine it working in a cyclical manner, as in you can't be falling asleep while poisoned, but burns can thaw you out. In another fashion, you can definitely do the Austin Powers thing and be asleep with frozen. Hopefully no one takes your mojo.

Finally, I had this idea that it would be kind of cool to induce toxic without actually using the move. Essentially there would be a chance of "_ is already poisoned...But _ is now badly poisoned!". There would be a counterbalance, but more on that later.

-Vision Tactics

There's this game out published by Ubisoft called Unravel. My roommate downloaded the demo and made commentary on the kinds of concepts the game had imparted through gameplay- ones about perspective and frame of reference.

This inspired me to want to implement some method of maturity into the accuracy check system. I already wanted moves like lock on and mind reader to function as foresight to hit ghosts. But universally I think it would be interesting to have accuracy as a function of evolution. There's a move in Gen VII (I believe) called laser focus and if you'll notice, most of the monsters that can learn it all bear a certain likeness. Almost like they had at one point wanted to introduce a new type (Beast Boosts anyone?) very suspicious.

Anyway this is in line with how many moves it would take for a certain monster to gain a plus [+1] in accuracy. It might take 12 moves for a fully evolved monster while only 10 for a fighting type. I would have it max out at 3, of course over very long battles. Imagine by then you can hit ghosts, extra move slot***. 

As for evasion: [-1] during freeze and sleep- this is all I ask.

-Pressure Point

Personally, I find that the critical hit system is rather wonky as it is. Never have I heard so much about RNG than with the streaming community. Someone actually opened my eyes when he mentioned how the frustration has less to with randomness as it does fairness.

I figure that if a monster used focus energy, it's clear and reasonable that a critical hit would be soon to follow. However in the instance that you set up  defensive boosts, a reflect, and somehow managed to burn your opponent, suddenly slash doesn't factor as well as suddenly brick break for deciding a match.

If you play ineffectively or were outplayed, you should lose fair and simple. Nonetheless, if its a part of the game to equate chance with fairness, why not make it something that one can trigger in various ways? 

I'm talking about having critical hits operate in an effect to bolster its strategic value. To Toxic or not to Toxic? I've never used False Swipe as a strategic move, but if it had a purpose (say double battles) I would consider how it would affect the outcome. I envision something like Belly Drum or Ghost Curse; something that makes you vulnerable, but its about the affect on long term play that counts. 


If you've read this far, check out it! You've discovered my open ended manner of making conclusions. You can probably tell that I'm just spit-balling, but I've found that sharing certain ideas leads to new and interesting ones that I would have never thought up had it been left to me on my own. I really like to hear what people think, even if its just their personal wishes for how they think the games should play.

Whenever you're talking to me, I'm always interested to know how the little things ripple in the long run. You never know how something simple like a randomizer can become a genius way to experience an old game.


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